We cannot emphasize enough how important regularly cleaning your pellet grill is. There are a number of reasons why your grill gets dirty. Between ash/creosote from the pellets and grease from your food, a lot goes down under the hood. If you elect to not clean your grill regularly it can lead to airflow problems and grease fires which can quickly escalate to house fires.

First and foremost, it is important to read your included owner's manual. If you accidentally tossed yours, navigate to your pellet grill's product page and to find a PDF version in the Downloads section near the Features and Specifications. Many can be found on this page.

After every use, empty your Ash Cleanout. This is a knob found on the side of your pellet grill. Not emptying the Ash Clean out will result in ash accumulation and restricted airflow, causing temperature swings and flameouts. As the pellet grill runs like a convention oven with a fan, you may start to notice ash settling on the bottom of your chamber and even on your food. This hopefully goes without saying, but it's a good idea to spot clean the lid, side shelf, and cook racks between cooks.

A deep clean really depends on how often you use your grill and what kind of smoking you do. If you often use foil pans, casserole dishes, cast iron, etc. and your drip tray doesn't get much action in the way of buildup grease, you can hold out a little longer than some. However, if you often do long smokes, and rarely smoke with cookware, you will have to clean more frequently. Generally speaking, after 50 hours of smoking, it's time for a deep clean. It's easiest to start from the top, down.

INTERIOR

⚠Make sure your grill is completely cool and unplug it from its power source before performing any cleaning. We suggest working in the order of parts listed below. It's easiest to work top to bottom and leave the vacuuming to the end of the internal cleaning process.

Inside of the Lid

If you have a stainless-steel pellet grill then you will notice a considerable color difference after a few cooks. The inside of your grill lid will be black, and this is completely normal. In fact, many people don't think twice about it. But if appearance is on the top of your list we have a few chemical tricks to restoring your grill to its former glory (as much as it could be.).

• Cleaner/Degreaser, LA Awesome
• Glass/Ceramic Cooktop Cleaner, Cerama Bryte

Heat Deflector Plate

This is the plate directly above your burn cup and below your drip tray. Give this a good scrape if there is any visible burnt on grease. Follow it up with a quick run of the shop vac to pick up an loose ash.

Chimney Vent

Cleaning the chimney doesn't need to happen as often. You can wait until racking up around 200 hours of smoking. Just keep an eye on it. Start by removing the chimney and gasket. This will require a screwdriver. After you've removed the chimney completely, give the vent slats in the inside of the grill a good scrape. Creosote tends to build up on this area. If you haven't done this in a while don't be surprised if the slats are nearly closed shut. You'll want to make sure they are free of debris.

To clean the actual chimney and gasket, submerge both in a large bucket with hot soapy water. Wait about 30 minutes before removing and wiping clean.

Internal Temperature Probe

Often times if your temperature does not read accurately it's because too much smoke has been built up on the probe. You'll want to clean it every few cooks. It's located on the right side of the cooking chamber and is about the size of a pencil. The goal is to keep it looking silver. To do this, use your vinegar/water solution mix and a soft steel wool ball.

Do not soak this with liquid. Be very gentle as this rod can be extremely finicky. Take your soft steel wool ball and carefully rub the thermometer free of bits and build up.

Note: Let the smoker run for about 30-60 minutes on 350℉ to burn off any chemicals.

EXTERIOR

⚠Make sure your grill is completely cool and unplug it from its power source before performing any cleaning.

Hopper

The inside of your hopper and auger tube get dusty after processing the hardwood pellets. It's a good idea to clean out the entire hopper every 100 hours of smoking. Most of our pellet grills come standard with a pellet purge or pellet dump (not including the Pursuit, XT, and SE.) Before performing this task make sure your grill is completely cooled and shut off. Grab a bag or bucket and place on the back side of your hopper under the chute and release the pellets. You may want to remove the honeycomb hopper protector to make sure your entire hopper is pellet free. Take your shop vacuum and suck out any unwanted dust from the hopper and the auger tube. Take a damp (not wet) rag or paper towel and wipe away any dust. Make sure the hopper AND auger is completely dry before re-dumping your pellets in. Note that if your auger was completely rid of pellets that you will have to go through a FEED cycle.

If you do not have a pellet grill with the pellet dump feature you will have to remove the honeycomb plate and manually scoop out the pellets. After you've scooped out all the pellets, run the grill through the FEED cycle to remove the ones within the auger tube. Then, finally, vacuum the dust from the hopper and auger tube and give the inside and outside of the hopper a good wipe down.

Some people will have to clean their hopper and auger due to a pellet bridge or moisture in their pellets. If your pellets are visibly wet, please do not run your pellet grill. The pellets will swell, and your grill will not run efficiently. Follow the video on this page, how to remove wet pellets.

All dark surfaces, like the outside of your Hopper can be cleaned with a the water/vinegar cleaner or Lemon Pledge (avoid the controller area.)

Legs

As stated above in the hopper section, you can give your pellet grill legs (and all black surfaces) a wipe down using equal parts vinegar and water or a common household cleaner like Lemon Pledge.

COMMON ATTACHMENTS / ACCESSORIES

Sidekick - Flat Top

The Sidekick is stainless steel. You will notice discoloration after some use. This is normal. Use the same chemical products that you'd use for your stainless steel line to keep the Sidekick looking fresh. To clean the Sidekick parts visit: How to Clean your Sidekick Attachment. Yes, we've included how to clean the included griddle and other Sidekick accessories too.

1. With a wire brush loose corrosion from burner exterior. Clean clogged gas port holes with an opened paper clip. Replace corroded or damaged burners that would emit excess gas.

2. Remove orifice/valve from burner.

3. Look inside the burner tube for nests, webs, or mud.

4. To remove the above obstructions, use an accessory flexible venturi brush or bend a small hook on one end of a long flexible wire or use an air hose.

5. Inspect and clean the burner if needed.

6. Reattach orifice/valve to burner.

Sear Box Attachment - DISCONTINUED

The Sear Box is also stainless steel. This means you can use the same chemical products you'd use on your stainless steel pellet grill lid. Regularly cooking with high temperatures will cause some discoloration to the outside. To clean the inner workings of the Sear Box visit: How to Clean your Sear Box Attachment.

Front Shelf

If you bought a wire front shelf (now discontinued) or a folding front shelf,you're in luck. Cleaning is easy by going the natural route, water/vinegar cleaner or again, hit it with some Lemon Pledge.

Grill Blanket

As a general note, do not use your pellet grill with the grill blanket on cooks over 500℉. The magnets will fail your grill fabric will discolor faster. Your best option to maintaining the grill fabric is to clean using warm water and a mild dish soap focusing on the discolored areas.

Gas Kit Grill Burners

Cleaning the optional add-on propane burners is a task and one that you likely haven't done before if you've owned a pellet grill. Here's a quick run down on how to.

1. Turn gas off at control knobs and LP cylinder tank valve.

2. Remove cooking grills and heat distribution plates.

3, Remove screw from each burner “foot” using a screwdriver.

4, Carefully lift each burner up and away from valve openings.

5, Use a narrow bottle brush or a stiff wire bent into a small hook to run through each burner tube and flame port several times.

6. Wearing eye protection, use compressed air to blow into burner tube and out the flame ports. Check each port to make sure air comes out each hole.

7. Wire brush entire outer surface of burner to remove food residue and dirt.

8. Check burner for damage, if any large cracks or holes are found replace burner.

IMPORTANT: Burner opening must slide over valve nozzle.

9. Orient burners CORRECTLY by aligning screw hole in burner to the left as shown.

Note: Make sure burner tubes align evenly between cross over channels.

10. Replace screw on each burner and follow the “Gas Leak Testing” section of this manual. Relight burners to verify proper operation.

11. Replace heat distribution plates and cooking grills.

Thank you to one of our good friends Steve Kair.

HELPFUL VIDEOS

HELPFUL PELLET GRILL CLEANING PRODUCTS